City, Steele family settle suit

Andy Hoffman Tanner Cole

Wednesday

Jun 6, 2018 at 6:32 PMJun 6, 2018 at 6:32 PM

Although specific details have not been released, a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed against the city and one of its police officers in connection with the 2015 fatal police shooting of Autumn Steele has been settled.

David O'Brien, of Cedar Rapids, an attorney representing the Steele family, said Wednesday he notified U.S. Senior District Judge James E. Gritzner in Davenport the parties have reached an out of court settlement.

"I am not going to release any details of the settlement at this time," O'Brien told The Hawk Eye. "We need to wait until the final documents are prepared and signed ... I will say the settlement is a mutually agreeable settlement and my clients are pleased with the outcome."

O'Brien said he will reveal specific details of the agreement, including its monetary value, after the settlement has been submitted and approved by Gritzner.

He said it is possible the court could approve the settlement within the next week.

Martha Shaff, a Davenport attorney who represented the city in the lawsuit, also declined comment Wednesday on specifics of the settlement.

"I will not have any comment at this time," she said. "It is being submitted to the court and I won't have any comment until the court's approval."

Jim Ferneau, Burlington city manager, referred all questions regarding the lawsuit and settlement to attorneys representing the city.

"Any issue like this that can be cleared up is good, but I haven't seen any official documents yet," Ferneau said.

He said he knows the dollar amount the city is going to be required to pay in the settlement, but wouldn't reveal it until the agreement is finalized.

Attorneys representing the Steele family have never indicated publicly the amount of monetary damages they were seeking in the wrongful death lawsuit.

Burlington Police Chief Dennis Kramer was out of the office Wednesday and couldn't be reached for comment.

The jury trial on the federal lawsuit was scheduled to begin Aug. 20 in Davenport.

The settlement comes less than two weeks after oral arguments were conducted before Gritzner in Davenport in which attorneys for both sides asked him to issue a summary judgment, which is a judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party without a full trial.

Gritzner took both motions under advisement. However, since the lawsuit has been settled, court officials said the summary judgement issue is moot.

Steele’s family filed the lawsuit almost two years after the 34-year-old woman was shot and killed in January 2015 by Hill during a domestic disturbance between her and her husband at the couple’s Burlington home.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Gabriel Steele, Autumn Steele’s husband; her two young sons, who were 3 and 6 years old at the time of the shooting; and her mother, Gina Colbert.

In the lawsuit, they claim Burlington is liable for excessive use of force, negligence and improper training of its officers.

In addition to negligence and excessive use of force charges, the plaintiffs also are asking for monetary compensation for the “loss of aid, companionship, cooperation” and ongoing affection from Autumn Steele as a result of Hill’s actions.

Investigators have said Hill was attempting to protect himself from the family’s German shepherd mix when he slipped on ice, fell to the ground and his gun went off, fatally wounding Steele as her husband and young son looked on.

Hill has claimed he shot the dog after it attacked and bit him while he was attempting to break-up the domestic disturbance. However, O'Brien told Gritzner during last month's hearing Hill's body camera and the dashboard video in his squad car do not corroborate the officer's story.

A few weeks after the shooting, Des Moines County District Attorney Amy Beavers cleared Hill of any wrongdoing in the shooting. He has returned to full time duty as a patrol officer with the department.

The federal lawsuit is unrelated to a three-year open records battle over the release of investigative reports, dashboard videos, police body cameras and 911 transcripts related to the shooting.

The open records battle is being conducted by the Iowa Public Information Board after the Steele family and The Hawk Eye filed separate complaints with the board claiming Burlington police and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation violated Iowa law by refusing to release the requested documents.

An evidentiary hearing on the IPIB complaints is scheduled to be heard at 9 a.m. July 20 before Administrative Law Judge Karen Doland in Des Moines. Doland was hired by the IPIB to preside over the matter.

Once Doland hears the evidence, whether it’s by testimony or by a set of stipulated facts and briefs, she will then submit her findings to the IPIB.

If she recommends the files or any portion of the requested material be released, the nine-member information board then can reject her findings and dismiss the complaints or order some or all of the requested records be released to the public.

One of the central issues in the IPIB case is whether law enforcement officers’ investigative reports, including body camera, dash board videos and 911 calls, are exempt from public release under Iowa’s open records law.

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